MONROVIA – A new Hong Kong Supermarket is going in at the Mon-Arc Retail Shopping Center on Duarte Road.

The 25,000-square-foot market, at 935 W. Duarte Road, is expected to open in August or September. It will the the fifth Hong Kong Supermarket in the San Gabriel Valley.

Other Hong Kong Supermarkets are located in Monterey Park, San Gabriel, West Covina and Hacienda Heights.

“We’ll have about 40 employees,” said Emily Cai, a representative with the company’s human resources department. “We’re adding on everything, including coolers and shelves.”

Cai declined to offer additional details on the new store and other representatives from the company could not be reached.

The building was previously occuped by the Super A Foods Supermarket, which left about a year ago.

A website for the Mon-Arc center shows that other tenants include Jim’s Burgers, Lucious Dumplings, Launderland, Shanghai Gourmet and a dry cleaners and dentist office, among others.

Headquartered in New York, Hong Kong Supermarkets was established in 1981, with its flagship store in Monterey Park. The grocery chain specializes in imported Asian groceries.

“These types of ethnic supermarkets continue to do well,” said Phil Lempert, a Southland food industry analyst. “They serve both the core ethnic base as well as others who are looking for a more authentic cuisine – especially the Millennial Generation, which is much more experimental.”

Lempert said one Asian market in New Jersey draws a broad demographic of shoppers.

“I would estimate that less than half of their shoppers are Asian,” he said.

Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz said the new Hong Kong Supermarket will serve residents from both Monrovia and Arcadia.

“Having a new supermarket in the shopping center is really important,” she said. “It will pull shoppers from the east and west side of Duarte Road. That area is really kind of a bridge between the two communities.”

Asians account for 10.9 percent of Monrovia’s total population. Arcadia’s Asian population is far bigger at 58.9 percent.

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.